American Learner Tien overpowered his Belgian opponent Alexander Blockx 4-3(4) 4-2 4-1 to win the Next Gen ATP Finals on Sunday, the year-ending exhibition tournament between the eight highest-ranked players on the tour aged 20 and under.
The tournament uses a modified format, where a player needs to win four games to clinch a set, and winning one point at deuce is enough to take the game.
Tien, who won his first trophy on the tour at the Moselle Open last month, held his nerve and made only 12 unforced errors while Blockx had 23, as the American won the match in just under an hour.
“I’m really happy, I knew it was going to be a tough match, Tien said.
“I don’t think (Blockx) missed a serve for the first set-and-a-half. He’s been playing great in these conditions all week,”
Blockx, who served seven aces while his opponent had only one, made his intentions clear from the start, attacking the left-handed Tien’s backhand with a fast serve and running up to the net to apply pressure.
Tien, ranked 28th in the world, pushed Blockx back with a well-placed lob before winning the point with a drive volley and although Blockx, ranked 116th, saved a break point and pushed the first set into a tiebreaker, top seed Tien outplayed his fellow 20-year-old.
The American won the second set with a decisive break, using his powerful forehand to push Blockx back until the under-pressure Belgian second seed hit over the baseline.
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Highlights of the Moselle Open final between Learner Tien and Cameron Norrie
Tien, who has clinched five victories over top-10 ranked players this year including a straight-sets win over world No 2 Alexander Zverev in February, got another break in the third set to go 3-1 up, leaving Blockx with little chance of fighting back.
“What a year you’ve had,” Blockx told Tien at the trophy presentation ceremony.
“There are not a lot of days I feel helpless on court but today was one of them. You’re just too good.”
Learner Tien came runner up in the men’s singles final match for the China Open against Jannik Sinner (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
Journey to the final
The new title holder had a tricky start in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, when after a long battle he narrowly lost his opening match to Rafael Jodar 4-1 3-4 (7-3) 4-1 4-2 4-3 (7-4).
Blockx and Tien placed first and second in the boys’ singles final at the Australian Open in 2023. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
However he managed to quickly bounce back to defeat his next two opponents to reach the final four.
There, he played fellow American Nishesh Basavareddy, and took a straight-sets win to progress to the final for the second year in a row.
Blockx’s road to the final, however, saw him go unbeaten and only drop two sets, setting himself up for a strong contention in the final.
The matches that saw Blockx drop a set were his first, against Germany’s Justin Engel, and his third against Croatia’s Dino Prizmic.
